Hona News

Nokia 3310 returns with Snake, month-long battery

MANILA – Finland’s HMD Global has resurrected the Nokia 3310, one of the world’s most popular call-and-text handsets before touchscreen smartphones popularized by Apple’s iPhone took over the mobile landscape.

The original 3310 debuted in 2000, came with replaceable color back covers, and helped its 120 million of users kill time with games like Snake until it was discontinued in 2005.
Here’s what we know so far about the new Nokia 3310. There is no word yet on local availability.

– It has a full color screen, a huge upgrade from the graphic LCD panel on its predecessor.

– It comes in four colors: a glossy red and yellow, and matte dark blue and gray.

– Snake is back, and it slithers on a more colorful maze.

– It has a camera and allows web browsing.

– It boasts of up to 22 hours talk time and “month-long” standby

– It will retail globally for 49 euros or roughly 2,600 pesos. The highest capacity iPhone 7 Plus, at around P55,000, is equivalent to at least 21 3310s.

Analysts said resurrecting the popular model was a clever way for HMD Global to relaunch Nokia’s brand.

“HMD launched three new smartphones and an iconic mobile. It is a way to create a halo effect around the other models by reviving talk about the Nokia brand,” said Thomas Husson, a mobile analyst at Forrester.

In addition to the new 3310, HMD presented three new smartphones, the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 which will sell for different prices.

The Nokia 6 was already available in China and will now go on sale globally.

“We think (Nokia) could take 5 percent of the global smartphone market by the end of 2019. But it needs to get big quick or it won’t work,” said CCS Insight’s device specialist and chief of research, Ben Wood.